IPS 




''^"' WAYSIDE 
LYRICS 



GEORGE W. BRADFORD 




Class rb"55"D D 

CopightN^JAii 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Wayside Lyrics 



By 



George W. Bradford 




192 1 
The Stratford Company, Publishers 

Boston, Massachusetts 






Copyright 1921 

The STRATFORD CO., Publishers 

Boston, Mass. 



The Alpine Press, Boston, Mass., tJ. S. A. 

©CU611091 



To The Memory Of 
Theresa Irene Houk 



Contents 

My Poems • 1 

My Mother 2 

To Waldo Hilary Dunn 3 

The Traveller 4 

A Child's Death 5 

Happy Pair 6 

My Love and I '^ 

The Question 8 

To a Maiden 9 

My Love 10 

Love H 

Two Spartan Boys . 12 

At the Shore 13 

The Poet 14 

To Henry Van Eman Brown . . . .15 

To H. H 16 

To Our Lord 17 

Forethought 18 

Wild Lily of France 19 

From the Peyrou 20 

On the March 21 

On Board a Troop Ship 22 

Heroes 23 



CONTENTS 

Waiting ^ . 24 

By the Loire . . . . . . .25 

Provence 26 

By the Mediterranean 27 

At Nice 28 

A Song from the Chinese . . . .29 
Repining Love (From the Chinese) . 30 

A Spring Morning (From the Chinese) . . 31 
The Approach of Winter . . . .32 

In the Woodland 33 

The Seasons 34 

Night and Dawn 36 

A Sunset .37 

Rain 38 

At Evening 39 

Where We Walked 40 

A Forest Fancy 41 

Summer Joys . . . . . . .42 

To a Bird .43 

To an Ivy Leaf . . . . . .44 

Fantasy 45 

The Vain Rose 46 

Lily of the Valley 48 

An Impression . . . . . .49 

On Perilous Seas . . . . '. .50 

Theresa 51 

Sunset Lands 52 



My Poems 

MY poems are the children of my soul, 
Born from my heart 
And fashioned by my mind 
And pictured for you in this folded scroll. 



[I] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



My Mother 

MY Mother has the sweetest face 
Of all the persons that I know — 
Not like the Mona Lisa there, 

But lovelier far than art can show. 

Her heart is good, for she has toiled 
Through all these years and sacrificed 

For husband blind, my father good, 

And for us children ^ — and all for Christ. 



[2] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



To Waldo Hilary Dunn 

TO you, my friend, 
I owe more than I know; 
For you have given 

Me vision, and the glow 
Of spiritual flame 

That comes from noble life 
Where white truth dwells 
Unshaken by our strife. 



[3] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



The Traveller 



A dying day 
And a cry in the heart for home 
Sunlight a-glimmer 

'er the land where I would roam. 



Nearer to Heaven 

And Eternity's moonlit fields 
I seem to be, 

As the sunlight to darkness yields. 



[4] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



A Child's Death 

THE child was dying — 
His face was lit with a smile : 
We were crying — 

He implored us to stop for a while. 

His face shone lovely 

From the light of the heavenly gate 
We tried to smile, 

But alas, it was too late. 



[5] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Happy Pair 

'rip WAS in a mountain dell I found her 

I Pretty maid; 
She lay among the violets, 

In the shade ; 
I kissed her till she wakened, 

Quite dismayed; 
And, alas, I found her angered — 

Lovely maid! 

Yet I smiled and gazed adoring 

At her there : 
She had blue eyes, blue like azure. 

And her hair 
Was bright and gold like sunbeams 

In the air: 
And we walked into the hamlet ^ — 

Happy pair ! 



[6] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



My Love and I 

WE walked adown the winding road, 
My love and I ; 
We came upon a rustic bench 
And passed it by. 

We longed to walk and talk of love 

Through all the night, 
Until the dawn should fade the stars 

With morning light. 



[7] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



The Question 

IT may not be 
That I was meant for you ; 
It may not prove 

That you were meant for me; 
Yet how can we 

Decide it now, forsooth? 
Must we not try 

That we may know the truth ? 



[8] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



To a Maiden 

PRAY excuse me, gentle maiden, 
If I call thee but a child; 
'Twas last night that I first met thee 

And perhaps you may have smiled 
At my rather rude composure; 
Yet believe me, for I mean it, 
That I ne'er have met before 
Just the same glad child of sunshine, 
Filled so full of sunny lore. 



[9] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



My Love 

I MET her where the orchids bloom 
In a shadowed dell; 
I held her little hand in mine ; 
I loved her well. 

A gentle pressure told my love — 

With nothing said; 
She sighed and turned her blushing cheek 

And lips of red. 



[10] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Love 



THE Primrose sighed and gently turned her 
head 
As Zephyr sweet came stealing through the 

wood ; 
She sighed again, he caught her where she 

stood 
And warmly kissed her brow, a-blushing red. 



[II] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Two Spartan Boys 

TWO Spartan boys 
Fought bravely on the plain; 
One of them fell, 

And he smiled through all the pain. 

When the war was done 
The two came home again: 

One on his shield, 
And both, victorious men. 



[12] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



At the Shore 

I WAS pacing the shore alone one day 
By the lashing, angry sea, 
When a wave broke with a mighty shock 
And flung my child to me. 

His lips had still the happy smile 
That he had smiled to me — 

My heart broke, and I buried him 
Close by the sea. 



[13] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



The Poet 



A poet's breath 
Is perfumed sweetly like the rose, 
And like its flower, oft fading goes 
In early death. 



[14] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



To Henry Van Eman Brown 

TO you, my friend, 
I write these few, short lines, 
In token that 

In you I find there shines 
A warmth of friendship, 

I covet more than signs 
Of outward acts, 

Which malice oft with bitterness combines. 



[IS] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



To H. H. 

HE is gone, my friend is dead ; 
In his grave he lies alone 
On the hillside where the dripping rain 

Weeps down, and sad winds moan. 
In his eharnel house of clay 

His pale, cold form lies low — 
A youth of beauty, struck too soon 
By death's fell blow. 



[i6] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



To Our Lord 



OUR Lord with thorn-crowned brow 
Humbly bore the sin, 
That we His children might somehow 
In penitence come in. 



[17] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Forethought 

A LITTLE thought of Thee, dear Lord, 
Each day we live; 
A consciousness of that great love 

Which Thou dost give; 
A little care against a sin 

Will help us when we near the gate 
Of death, to enter in. 



[i8] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Wild Lily of France 

WILD LILY of France, 
In the meadow we found thee, 
Hebe 's fair goblet of lavender hue ; 
Fresh, slender floweret. 
Unguarded yet faithful. 
Cheering the torn hearts 
Of those marching over; 
Wantonly crushed 
By the feet trampling on thee — 
Lavender Lily, sweet Lily of France. 



[19] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



From the Peyrou 

IT was the dying of the day, 
And in a splendid burst of golden glory, 
The tired sun 
Flooded the low Cevennes, castled and hoary. 

Far to the north of the town. 

Old Pic St. Loup as a silent warder grim 
Loomed in the twilight, 

Guarding the hill towns, nestling close to him. 



[20] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



On the March 



AS a phantom army through the gloom 
Of a moonless night, we marched ahead, 
And heard the low, incessant boom 

Of cannons belching forth their lurid red. 

Our voices hushed, our only sound 

Was the steady tramp of marching feet 

In rhythm over the frosted ground 

Of a highroad or a darkened village street. 

Though unafraid, we did not speak: 
Because it seemed that death was nigh, 

Stalking by our line to seek 
Which ones of us were ready soon to die. 



[21] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



On Board a Troop Ship 

THE troubled ocean heaves in sighing swells ; 
Its waters dark rise grim across the deep ; 
The wind, its ancient foe, beats ever on 
Its rugged visage, wrinkled and careworn. 
The tale of sorrow which its murmuring tells 
Is long and sad, and never wont to end. 



[22] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Heroes 

IN Flanders' land 
Where poppies tinge with red, 
A thousand hearts 
In loyal service bled. 

There they lie; 

But their souls have fled the earth 
To walk with God, 

Having suffered a glorious birth. 



[23] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Waiting 

DARKNESS fell 
As Night stalked through the woods ; 
In our dugouts damp 

We found what cheer we could. 

The news of peace 

Was mocked by a cannon 's roar ; 
We waited on 

As we had done before. 



[24] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



By the Loire 



'np WAS down the valley of the Loire we came 

JL On a sunlit afternoon, 
Through the dark green vales and the shadowed 
hills 

Flowered by June. 



[25] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Provence 

HEATHER hills and gently rolling plains 
Of old Provence, the land of Roman 
walls • — 
Dusty roadways, trod by Spanish swains, 

And heavily wheeled by lumbering carryalls! 



[26] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



By the Mediterranean 

DUSK of twilight settles o 'er the land ; 
Behind the far west hills the sun sinks low 
And stains with rose the rifted, golden strand; 
The south winds from the sea their sighings 
blow. 



[^7] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



At Nice 

THE mountains rose like monarclis from the 
sea 
Of azure blue. The sea stretched far 
To the ocean of molten gold where spirits free 
Mingled their glory with the gold of the west- 
ern star. 



[28] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



A Song from the Chinese 

I DRINK red wine from the wine stained cup 
In the shadows of lilies fair ■ — 
The moon, my image, and I alone 
In our starlit vale, Nowhere. 

I offer my cup to the low, round moon, 

But she turns away her head; 
And my image mocks, as I taste again 

Of my love-cup brimming red. 

My image recoils when I dance and sing 
As the moon sails the deep night sea ; 

We are merry until I swoon away — 
My companions then leave me. 

But soon I forget these friend of mine. 

For only in spring we love; 
And then I shall be at the high cloud home 

In that blue sea far above. 



[29] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Repining Love 

FROM THE CHINESE 

THE blind of pearl is gently lifted 
By a lady fair, 
She sits alone, profoundly sad, 
Her arched brow lined with care. 

The wet tears slowly trace their way 

Cold on her cheek; 
Whom does she hate, this lady fair? . . 

She will not speak. 



[30] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



A Spring Morning 

FROM THE CHINESE 

I WAS roused from the darkness of sleep 
By the song of a morning choir 
Of birds that sang as the fair dawn broke, 
And my soul was set on fire. 

While I slept, the patter of gentle rain 
And the sighs of the whispering wind 

Lulled me into the land of dreams 
Where my beloved one spinned. 

All about my bed with old leaves strewn 
Where the young grass kissed the sun. 

The petals of cherries had fallen low, 
Their life's thread nearly spun. 



[3-] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



The Approach of Winter 

I HEAR the sighs of winter 
As the winds blow through the oaks 
Can it be that lingering autunm 
Must now leave her woodland folks ? 

All about our campus coverts, 
Wildly leaf-strewn everywhere, 

Autumn colors all have vanished 
Into grey — and trees are bare. 



[32] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



In the Woodland 

WHEN the cowslips yellow the river marge 
And the lilies dapple the way, 
When the catbird whines and the redcoats fly 

And the streamlet murmurs at play, 
I want to wander through bush and fen 

In the haunts of the wild wood things ; 
Find beetles and bugs and flowers and birds 

And hear when the woodthrush sings. 
I would break through the thicket of thorny 
briers 

To find a wild woodbine ; 
I would climb a tree to the topmost boughs, 

I would hunt for the eglantine. 
In earliest spring ere the snows are gone 

I would hunt arbutus rare ; 
I would live and love in my woodland wild — 

I would build my cabin there. 



[33] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



The Seasons 

WHILE yet the snows of winter may be 
traced 
Along the north bank of the creek and mound, 
Spring steps forth, her filmy garments flaunting 
And prints arbutus on the leaf -strewn ground. 

She lightly touches with her roseate wand 
The blackened branches of the forest trees 

Till they begin to green with growing buds 
And blossoms filled with nectar sipped by bees. 

It is not long till Summer's tanned form 
Is seen to pace the meadow, wood, and vale ; 

In shadowed nook she paints the lovelier 
flowers — 
The scarlet rose and the summer lily pale. 

With golden wand she changes wheat to gold — 
Its heavy heads droop burdened in the heat; 

At night she sleeps with tired eyelids closed 
While zephyrs guard her in her still retreat. 

[34] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 

Then Autumn, somber child with crimson face, 
Takes up her reign as Summer leaves her field ; 

She touches every fruit with garnet wand 
And swells them luscious for a bounteous 
yield. 

The vintage press is then restained anew 

With crimson wine from grapes grown on the 
hill ; 

The apples blush, the graceful pears grow tan ; 
The wheat is threshed and taken to the mill. 

And now the winds of winter wing their way, 
Whirling the snowflakes from the frozen lands ; 

And Winter's child in robes of sparkling white 
Locks up the streams with flashing, diamond 
bands. 

For long months all the earth is wrapped in 
quiet — 
The only birds, the snow-birds of the cold. 
Wide plains of white, that glare in the winter 
noon 
And glimmer rose from the sun, as the day 
grows old. 



[35] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Night and Dawn 

THE night is dark 
And the Lady Moon has gone to rest 
Through the twilight portals of the west 
In her silver bark. 

She leaves the stars 

To guard the night deeps till the dawn 
Touches with rose the close-cropped lawn 

And the meadow bars. 



[36] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



A Sunset 



A SUNSET of rose, the gateway 
Into night, banked by the pearly grey 
Of the twilight's darkening mist; 
Mantled hills of snow, and woods — 
Soft, dark woods below the tinted sky ; 
Fair Evening, thou hast painted well. 



[37] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Rain 

RAIN-drops 
Fall on the lawn 
All through the night 
Until the day dawn. 

Thirsting buds 

Drink while they may ; 
The dews that ara left 

Sparklingly play. 



[38] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



At Evening 

INTO a clear and sapphire sea 
The blood-red sun sinks low — 
Behind, the clouds are floating free 
In a wondrous rose-red glow. 

The light fades into azure grey, 
And the restless evening star 

Begins again her night-time sway 
In her silver car. 



[39] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Where We Walked 

THE valley where we walked lies veiled with 
haze, 
And autumn tints are crushed from spicy 
fruits ; 
A forest goddess flings from chaliced vase 
The odors of the corn and dying shoots. 

Through endless days the sylvan fairies play, 
And Pan with all his troop in riot free 

Pours forth a song of happiness all day 
To be in tuneful, tearless melody. 



[40] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



A Forest Fancy 



THE darkened copses of the forest green, 
_ Enchanted by a shadow fantasy, 
There lingers in thy fretted, vernal sheen 
A symphony of rarest harmony. 



O 



I come to hear sweet tales of long ago 
Told by the oak in soft, prophetic strain, 

To listen to the brook, a-babbling low 

With childlike grace its gurgling soft refrain. 



[41] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Summer Joys 

THE joy of living eddies amongst the trees ; 
Why should we gloom and waste ourselves 
away ? 
It is better to observe the laden bees 

The livelong day; 
Or sit and watch the lowing herds that graze 
Upon the uplands where the grass is green ; 
Or read the thoughts of seers and poet lays, 
And rest unseen. 



[42] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



To a Bird 

SWEET bird that singest in the wilderness 
The rare flute melodies of the forest wild, 
Sing to me, wild thing, that I may leave this 
earth 
And with thee bide as Nature's happy child. 

Thy ruby throat will pour thee all away 
Into a song of pure, unselfish art, 

With free and joyous nature as thy theme, 
With pure and chastened pleasure in thy heart. 



[43] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



To an Ivy Leaf 

THOU waxen leaf of ivy brown, 
Frost-bitten by the autumn air 
We sorrow, for thou wert as fair 
As any leaf upon the down. 

The freshness of thy summer dress 
Thou hast put by for sober tints ; 
Of winter now thy grey wall hints ; 

Our hearts for thee are in distress. 



[44] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Fantasy 

AMONG the shadows of the forest lanes, 
Where fairies dance in evening ^s dewy 
times, 
I linger where fair gods in rock-built fanes 
May teach me golden measures and soft 
rhymes. 
There I may hear those sweet, undying strains 
That soft winds play on mellow forest chimes. 



[45] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



The Vain Rose 

IN a garden where grew 
Sweet roses of youth, 
One rose grew the fairest ; 
Her petals were rarest 
Of deep, blushing hue ; 
Her stalk was most slender 
And graceful in splendor; 
She deigned not to glance 
On her sisters more humble, 
But reared her proud tresses 
To be gazed at in wonder. 
She loved her rich beauty 
And nodded most queenly ; 
Yet the shears of the gardener 
Put an end to her scorn ; 
She lived for awhile, 
"Wore a radiant smile 
In the vase by the window; 
But 0, how tormenting ! 
Her beauty fast faded ; 
Ere long she was old 

[46] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 

And in shame she repented; 
She gazed with much sadness 
On the garden's fresh glory. 



[47] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Lily-of-the-Valley 

LOVELY Lily-of-the-Valley 
Scenting my room — 
Thy delicate flower-bells glow 

While Evening's gloom 
Falls quietly about my cushioned chair, 

Veiling the paintings on the shadowed wall, 
Copies of Titian and da Vinci rare. 



[48] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



An Impression 

THE waves beat on and out upon the brine ; 
A tiny sail scarce moving on the deep, 
A speck of white out on the foaming sea 
That swells in endless billows to the winds. 



[49] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



On Perilous Seas 

PALE clouds are blown across the azure sky 
In fragments wildly scattered o 'er the deep ; 
The stars are frightened, and the mother moon 
Is troubled, yet can only watch and sigh. 
"When Aeolus in a fit of stormy wrath 
Unlooses all his blasts of rugged winds, 
They dash and leap and chase each other far 
Until the stars are frightened from their sleep. 



[50] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Theresa 

BLUE-eyed flower in my garden, 
Loveliest flower a knight could seek, 
I had left thee in our morning 
With the dew upon thy cheek. 

Mine the part to leave thee waiting 
While I tried my battling might — 

Leave thee waiting in my garden 
While I helped my comrades fight. 

Every morning with the zephyrs 
Came sweet messages from thee, 

Breaths of freshness as of spring time, 
Gently blown from thee to me. 

Then one day the breezes hushened. 
Seemed a-wearied as with pain, 

And I thought it was the battle. 
Or the sorrow for the slain. 

But another breeze came sighing. 
Telling me that you had died; 

And I climbed into my dugout 
Where I laid me down and cried. 
[51] 



WAYSIDE LYRICS 



Sunset Lands 



THERE is a land beyond those western hills 
Whereon the rose of sunset lies, 
Where violet lanes and panting, laughing rills 
Thread sylvan ways, beneath calm, azure skies. 



[52] 



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